Zuckerberg takes long view with WhatsApp, Internet

Mark Zuckerberg, known for his outsized ambitions for Facebook, is applying a similar long-term vision to bringing the Internet to the billons of people around the world who don’t already have access.

The 29-year-old CEO of Facebook Inc. discussed long-term plans for a world in which everyone is able to get online during an on-stage interview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on Monday.

It was Zuckerberg’s most high-profile appearance yet at the world’s largest mobile trade show, signaling Facebook’s growing influence in mobile communications. The company’s mobile footprint has only expanded with its decision to buy WhatsApp, the wildly popular smartphone messaging service, in a surprise deal announced last Wednesday.